Cluster Lead, Routine Immunization Access

 The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI)

Cluster Lead, Routine Immunization Access

 

India

Type Full Time

Program (Division) Country Programs - India

Additional Location Description Patna, Bihar

 

Overview

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries, while strengthening the capabilities of governments and the private sector in those countries to create and sustain high-quality health systems that can succeed without our assistance. 

 

CHAI, in partnership with its India affiliate William J Clinton Foundation (WJCF), works in close partnership with and under the guidance of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) at the Central and States' levels on an array of high priority initiatives aimed at improving health outcomes. Currently, CHAI works across projects to expand access to quality care and treatment for HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis-C (HCV), tuberculosis, cancer, and immunization.

 

Background:

Through the prioritized implementation of high impact public health interventions like immunization, access to safe drinking water, improved neo-natal and infant care and access to effective treatment for pneumonia and diarrhea, India has reduced its infant mortality rate (IMR) from 89 in 1990 to 32 in 2017 and Under-five Mortality Rate (U5MR) from 126 in 1990 to 39 in 2017. India’s Universal Immunization Program (UIP) is one of the largest public immunization programs in the world. It caters to 26.3 million infants and 30 million pregnant women annually through 9 million planned sessions. The program provides access to vaccines against 11 Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPDs) at the national level and against two VPDs vaccines at the sub-national level.

 

Under the strong leadership of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) and state governments, the entire immunization ecosystem has demonstrated proactive commitment for achieving universal immunization coverage in the country in recent years. Strategic projects in this direction include but are not limited to introduction of new vaccines, rolling out of data systems, strengthening of national immunization centres such as Immunization Technical Support Unit (ITSU) and National Cold Chain & Vaccines Management Resource Centre (NCCVMRC) and successful piloting of initiatives for bolstering health worker capacity building. Coupled with these initiatives, MoHFW launched Mission Indradhanush (MI) in 2014 and Intensified Mission Indradhanush (iMI) in 2017: catch up and system strengthening campaigns to target underserved, vulnerable, resistant, and inaccessible populations. iMI has resulted in an increase of 6.7% in full immunization coverage (FIC) after the first two phases in prioritized districts. However, the government and partners recognize the need for further efforts in this direction to reduce the 802,000 infant deaths and 989,000 under-five deaths that occur annually in the country.

 

Uttar Pradesh (UP), the most populous state of India, contributes more than 20% (5.7 million) to India’s annual birth cohort. UP has the highest infant mortality (64 deaths per 1,000 live births) and under five mortality rates (78 death per 1,000 live births) in the country. UP’s  FIC  went up from 51.1% in 2015-16, to 65.3% in 2018 through concentrated efforts and catch up campaigns (MI and iMI) in 60 out of 75 districts. However, wide variations in coverage exist across regional and social categories. In 2018, UP accounted for 25% of under-immunized children in India & 9.5% of world’s under-immunized children. Improvements in UP’s FIC are essential to national and global improvements in immunization coverage, as an increase in UP’s FIC from 65 to 90% could increase India’s FIC by 6 percentage points, and the global FIC by 1%. The government of Uttar Pradesh (GoUP) is currently rapidly implementing a new strategic roadmap for holistic improvement of immunization outcomes in the state.

 

Program Overview:

CHAI in partnership with its India affiliate, William J. Clinton Foundation's (WJCF) has been working in India since 2004 in close partnership with and under the guidance of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) at the central and state levels on an array of high priority initiatives aimed at improving health outcomes. Currently, CHAI/WJCF programs, supports government initiatives on HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis-C, tuberculosis, cancer, immunization, and health financing. Additionally, CHAI/WJCF supports many state governments on large-scale programs to arrest childhood and maternal mortality due to malnutrition, anemia, diarrhea and pneumonia, and helping increase access to quality family planning services.

 

CHAI/WJCF’s India immunization program supports the MoHFW’s UIP at the national level and in the focus states of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh. CHAI/WJCF provides catalytic support to NCCVMRC, based out of National Institute of Health and Family Welfare (NIHFW), on national projects for improving availability and efficacy of vaccines and efficiency of vaccines systems. CHAI/WJCF also supports national and state governments on broader operational aspects such as planning, capacity building and systems improvements for immunization service delivery.

 

In Bihar, CHAI/WJCF will provide catalytic support to GoB for achieving and sustaining 90% FIC. CHAI/WJCF will help in setting up effective program management & review mechanisms, identifying pressing challenges as well as best practices in RI, enhancing impact of well performing interventions, developing & deploying effective solutions to pressing challenges and undertaking multi-year planning for long term immunization systems strengthening.

 

Role Overview:

 

CHAI seeks a highly motivated and entrepreneurial individual with outstanding credentials for the key role of Cluster RI Lead. The role would entail leading the immunization system strengthening & coverage improvement activities in a cluster of priority districts and blocks within Bihar, through a multi-functional team. The candidate will lead efforts to diagnose area specific challenges and drive intensive efforts for RI improvement. The ideal candidate would have rich implementation experience in Immunization, excellent stakeholder management abilities, and have demonstrated excellence in leading high caliber teams for impact. CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities: resourcefulness, responsibility, tenacity, independence, energy, and work ethic.

 

Responsibilities

• Lead, guide and mentor a high-powered multi-functional implementation team capable of delivering impactful solutions in swift timelines
• Develop strong understanding of the Routine Immunization coverage gap and related challenges within the priority geographies and enable creation of RI coverage improvement action plans
• Enable identification of key interventions to be undertaken by the multi-functional team to solve geography specific challenges
• Undertake operational planning for the activities to be undertaken by the team and monitor progress effectively
• Build trust-based relationships & identify synergies with district & block level health leadership, partner organizations, civil society organizations and other stakeholders for improving routine immunization performance in identified geographies
• Provide advisory and capacity building support to immunization program managers at the district/block levels on effective immunization programme management
• Identify and document local innovative solutions to enhance immunization service delivery
• Support the development of comprehensive & systematic insights on the immunization context in Bihar
• Travel across the priority geographies on a regular basis and to other parts of the state as and when required
• Undertake any other duties and responsibilities as assigned by the Implementation Lead

Qualifications

• Post graduate in the field of Social science, Public Health, Community Medicine, Management Sciences, or other allied fields
• 10+ years of experience in Routine Immunization/ Public Health programmes in governmental/non-governmental organizations
• Strong understanding of different components of RI like microplanning, vaccine logistics management, cold chain, headcount survey and RI reporting
• Prior experience in organizing and facilitating Immunization capacity building at the district and sub district level
• Prior experience in diagnostics, assessments or monitoring for immunization/public health programmes
• Strong stakeholder management and coordination skills
• Excellent team management skills, with the ability to organize workload across multiple team members and geographies
• Entrepreneurial mind-set, including ability to work independently, self-motivate, and propose and implement new initiatives
• Motivated to travel frequently to meet the needs of the program and deliver impact effectively
• Excellent analytical (qualitative and quantitative) and communication (written and verbal) skills
• High level of proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, PowerPoint and Word
• Fluency in English and Hindi

Preferred:

• Strong understanding of public health/immunization context in Bihar

For more information and online application click here

Programme Specialist, Youth & Gender, Bihar, India, SB5

 UNFPA

Job Title                                 National Post: Programme Specialist, Youth & Gender, Bihar,                                                  India, SB5

Job ID                                     34684

Location                                 Asia and Pacific

Full/Part Time                       Full-Time

Regular/Temporary              Regular

 

Rotation                                 This post is non-rotational.

Duty Station:                         Bihar, India

Closing Date:                         28 January 2021

Duration:                               One Year (renewable)

Post Type:                              Service Contract

Please note that this vacancy is open to nationals of India.  

Organizational Setting

The Position:

 

The Youth and Gender Specialist provides technical assistance and manages UNFPA’s work in respective State, on adolescents and youth and gender equality, with special focus on gender-based violence, to accelerate achievement of the ICPD Programme of Action and Agenda 2030. You will provide technical and policy advice in these special areas and help to strategically position UNFPA’s work, ensuring linkages with UNFPA other programme components of sexual and reproductive health and population dynamics.

 

You will report directly to the State Programme Coordinator with strong working relationships with the Adolescent/Youth and Gender Specialists in the Country Office in New Delhi.

 

How you can make a difference:

 

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.  UNFPA’s strategic plan, focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices.

 

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

 

UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who uphold the values enshrined in the United Nations Charter, who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results

 

Job Purpose:

 

UNFPA has been a partner of the Government of India and People since 1974 and is now on its 9th five-year Country Programme.  The Country Programme leverages large-scale government programmes to advance the needs of adolescents and girls and advance gender equality, such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (Save Daughters and Educate Daughters), Scheme for Adolescent Girls, Adolescent Health Programme, and school-based programmes to reach girls and boys at scale.  UNFPA’s support to the formal school systems through the Adolescence Education Programme has steadily moved towards institutionalization. UNFPA remains a trusted and important partner to both the Ministries of Health and Education to support the roll-out and institutionalization of the Comprehensive School Health Programme. UNFPA’s technical support to strengthen the on-ground implementation of Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (National Adolescent Health Programme) is well recognized. While working with national government programmes, the interventions have also been designed to demonstrate innovative ways of reaching out to vulnerable adolescent girls.

 

UNFPA aims to advance women and young people’s rights, especially girls, through interventions that keep girls in school, delay marriage and child bearing, prevent unintended pregnancy, protect them against and address gender-based violence, and promote the social, health and economic assets of the most vulnerable.  The programme seeks to reimage young people, promote their responsible participation and civic engagement, and thud unleash their full potential as agents of positive transformative in their communities and society at large.

 

You will manage the adolescent and youth and gender programme in the State, providing high-quality technical assistance, introduce innovation for acceleration of results, and results-based programme management; you will strengthen partnerships and build strategic alliances for advocacy and provide policy advice, leverage financial and technical resources for accelerated achievement of UNFPA’s transformative results and the ICPD Programme of Action.  You will engage with other programme units at State and national levels.

 

 

Main Tasks & Responsibilities

 

You will be responsible for:

 

A. Programme Management and Coordination

 

·         Support the implementation of UNFPA supported programming in the area of adolescents and youth and gender, applying appropriate strategies and interventions relevant to the State, and for achieving Country Programme results.

·         Ensure application of Corporate programme policies and procedures, including those related to budget management, monitoring and oversight.

·         Contribute to the formulation of the annual work plans for the State in the area of adolescents and youth and gender, ensuring application and contextualization of appropriate best practices and latest scientific knowledge in the field of adolescent and youth development, especially adolescent reproductive health and gender equality.

·         Monitor the day-to-day implementation of work plans through regular consultations with stakeholders and field visits.

·         Contribute to preparedness and response to humanitarian crises in the State, ensuring adequate attention given to the needs of women and girls, and inclusion of young people during emergencies.

 

B. Policy Dialogue and Technical Support

 

·         Contribute to policy dialogue with Government counterparts and UN and other development partners at the State level, preparing technical briefs and evidence-based materials and data, in favour of policies and budget allocations for programmes targeting women and girls, adolescents and youth.

·         Stay up-to-date with UNFPA corporate technical and programme policies and guidelines. Assess implications of new policy developments and strategies on programme execution, and ensure their application as relevant.

·         Stay connected to national and international technical communities of practice, ensuring appropriate contextualization of new ideas, best practices, and scientific evidence in the field of gender equality and adolescents and youth development.

·         Apply rights-based, gender-responsive and inclusive, and results-based approaches to programme design, implementation and reporting.

·         Establish and nurture collaboration and partnerships with technical networks on adolescents and youth development and gender equality.

 

C. Advocacy and Resource Mobilization

 

·         Represent UNFPA in meetings with senior and technical government officials as well as multi-lateral, bi-lateral agencies, non-governmental organizations, maintain a healthy and collaborative relationship,